Drier for hair brushes



Oct. 4, 1955 MANGILO ET AL DRIER FOR HAIR BRUSHES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledSept. 9, 1954 PIC-5.2

FIG.3

M m m m m Y m A E V o c T s m m m L m w m m a w m 2 a m 5wzlzrrlilrgifii lzi 21-242 7 2 Oct. 4, 1955 G. MANGILO ETAL 2,719,365

DRIER FOR HAIR BRUSHES Filed Sept. 9, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORSGIROLAMO MANGILO FRED H. SCHREIBER mam.

TTORNEY United States Patent DRIER FOR HAIR BRUSHES Girolamo Mangilo andFred H. Schreiber, West Islip, N. Y.

Application September 9, 1954, Serial No. 454,992

1 Claim. (Cl. 34-495) The subject of the invention described in thispatent is a novel and valuable drying device especially adapted to beused in beauty parlors, barber shops and like establishments, forquickly and conveniently drying, at one and the same time, and by theuse merely of heat and air under pressure, a plurality of hairbrushes'after washing and sterilization of the latter.

In such establishments, particularly those of the better class, eachpatron expects that a new hairbrush will be used by the beautician ortonsorial artist serving that patron, and, indeed, in most if not allStates in this country, that a new hairbrush be used for each patronserved. By a new hairbrush, of course, is meant either a new one or onewhich after being last previously used has been cleaned and madesterile.

In the case of a hairbrush which in connection with its sterilizationhas been washed, such hairbrush, naturally, must be dried after washing;and where, as is often the case, many different patrons are served in asingle working day, the problem of maintaining on hand the requiredsupply of previously washed and sterilized and now dried hairbrushes'has been troublesome and expensive. Ordinarily, a completely wettedhairbrush takes a long time to dry. Yet a very considerable investmentis required in order to have on hand the large total of hairbrushesneeding to insure that a sufficient number of dry ones will always beavailable; and, besides, fairly extensive shelf areas or other supportsfor brushes previously wetted and so needing to be dried are required.

In attempts to avoid the difficulties just indicated, dry sterilization,as by the use of formaldehyde vapors, or by the use of ultraviolet lightrays, have been resorted to. The thought here has been to avoidsoak-wettings of the bristles of a hairbrush for fear of permanentlysoftening the bristles.

We have found, however, that this fear is wholly unfounded, providedonly that after full wetting and even after soak-washing the bristles ofa hairbrush, the bristles are subjected to the passage thereover andthrough the interbristle spaces of a stream of high velocity, highlyheated air. A stream of the kind so defined is that de livered by astandard blower with heater unit such as is commonly used in driers forwomens hair, as after shampooing and washing in a beauty parlor or athome.

Therefore, according to the present invention, we have been able todevise an exceedingly simple and relatively inexpensive device fordrying in very short order several, and indeed a great many if desired,of wet hairbrushes; and a device, moreover, which may incorporate astandard blower with heater unit of the kind above mentioned, but which,nevertheless, is adapted to have dried brushes removed therefrom andadditional wet brushes inserted during operation of the device onbrushes remaining therein and still not fully dried.

The device of the invention comprises, essentially, a cabinet having afirst opening, means for delivering heated air under pressureincorporating a blower and a heating "ice unit for discharging a streamof heated air into the cabinet for sweep therethrough, a door normallyclosing a second opening through which hairbrushes may be inserted intoand removed from the cabinet, and a third opening for coacting with theinternal shape of the cabinet and with a supporting means forhairbrushes therein in desired placements, to insure that said airstream will be directed to sweep over the entire plurality ofhairbrushes in the cabinet. Devices pursuant to the invention as abovehave been made and successfully used in operatnig beauty shops, saiddevices for drying at one time from sixteen to forty-eight hairbrushes.

Other desirable objects and the novel features through which the variouspurposes of the invention are attained are set forth or will papear inthe course of the following specification.

The drawings accompanying and forming a part of the specificationillustrate two practical mehodiments of the invention now favored, butit will be appreciated that structural changes of various kinds arepossible, all within the true intent and broad scope of the invention ashereinafter defined and claimed.

In said drawings,

Fig. 1 shows one of said embodiments in perspective, looking toward anend of a horizontally elongated cabinet at which is located theaforesaid third opening.

Fig. 2 shows said embodiment mainly in side elevation, with parts brokenaway to illustrate sectionally certain features, and to suggest thecomparatively great length which the cabinet may have and so to indicateits capacity for drying at once a large number of hairbrushes;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view, partially broken away and partially insection, illustrative of the other of the two practical embodimentshereinabove mentioned.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section, taken substantially on the line 5-5 ofFig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a horizontal detail sectional View, taken on the line 6-6 ofFig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings in more detail, and first to the form ofthe invention exemplified by the structure illustrated in Figs. l-3, ahorizontaly elongated cabinet 15 is shown, which conveniently is of thequadrilateral cross-section indicated in Fig. 2, and which desirably, asalso there indicated, is formed of a suitable plastic. The cabinet 15,it will be noted, is somewhat wider than high; and, as shown in Figs. 1and 2, the cabinet is of a length at least several times its width. Inthe successful use of an embodiment of the invention exactly as shown inFigs. l-3, a large number of hairbrushes were relatively quickly driedat one time, with the brushes arranged side by side and with each brushextended lengthwisely in the direction of width of the cabinet interior.Said brushes were placed with their bristles pointing upward, and weresimply laid down on supporting means inside the cabinet and to bedescribed later; which supporting means were precisely the same in saidsuccessfully used device as shown in the drawings herein.

An inlet opening 16 for the stream of heated pressuredriven air isprovided in an end wall 17 of the cabinet, as shown in Fig. 3.

A large opening 18, as long as and almost as wide as a side wall 19, asbest shown in Fig. 2, is provided in the said wall 19.

In the end wall of the cabinet opposite to the Wall 17, said oppositeend wall being marked 20, there are upper and lower louvre openings 21and 22. As more clearly shown in the case of the latter, at theleft-hand side of Fig. 2, these openings are so shaped that theirinclusion in the cabinet 15 if molded of a plastic will present nodifficulties or complications because of the presence of the louvremembers or hoods such as the one designated 22a. It is also to be notedthat the sum of the crosssectional areas of the two openings 21 and 22is relatively small as compared with the area of the opening 16, withthe result that while successive increments to the stream of heatedpressure-driven air discharged into the cabinet will all in time escapeone after another through the openings 21 and 22 there will be presentin the cabinet what may be called a pile-up of the heated air with aconsequent quick evaporization of the moisture in the wet hairbrushbristles thereby to dry said bristles in a remarkable short period oftime.

This action occurs, of course, while the large opening 18 is closed; andso as normally to maintain that opening closed, a swing-door 23 isprovided, hingedly mounted on the cabinet 15 as indicated at 24. Thepintle-carrying portion of said hinge is located, as shown clearly inFig. 3, well above any table-like support on which the cabinet 15 isplaced, due to the provision of four rubber feet 25, each readilyattachable to the plastic cabinet 15 as by use of a machine screw 26 inthe manner illustrated at the left in Fig. 2 The swing+door 23 isnormally held closed by a pair of leaf-spring latch pieces. 27, shapedfor snap engagement with the side wall 19 along the upper edge of theopening 18 in said wall. For convenient manual release of said latchpieces and swing down of the door 23 to open condition, two pull-knobs28 are provided, anchored in place by the same screws, as shown in thecase of one of said screws at 28a in Fig. 3, which are included in themeans for securing the latch pieces 27 in place at the inner side of thedoor 23.

The blower with heater unit is as a whole designated 29, the blowercasing being illustrated as flanged and there attached by screws to theend wall 17 of the cabinet as shown in Fig. 2. At 30 is indicated theair inlet tube for the blower, and at 31 the electric switch for throwto energize the motor of the blower or to deenergize said motor. At 32and 33 respectively are shown the shaft and the vanes of the blower. Itwill be noted that, while as already pointed out the sum of thecross-sectional areas of the two hot air escape louvre openings 21 and22 is relatively small as compared with the area of the opening 16, thearea of the last named opening is conside'rably greater than thecross-sectional area of the heated air stream discharged from the vanes33; with the result that the watery vapors resulting from the aforesaidquick evaporization of the moisture in the wet hairbrush bristles haveadequate egress ways provided therefor at the four corners of theopening 16.

These good results were had even with, as herein shown, the structure ofFigs. 1-3 constructed so as interiorly thereof toprovide twocompartments, an upper one 34, and a lower one 35; so that there couldbe dried at one and the same time two tiers of hairbrushes with eachtier arranged as already described; that is, placed with their bristlespointing upward and simply laid down on supporting means while saidbrushes were arranged side by side and with each brush having its lengthextended in the direction of width of the cabinet interior. Saidsupporting means were, as herein shown, two wall structures in thenature of horizontal partitions. Each of these is herein shown as moldedof a plastic, to include, in addition to its main wall, on which thehairbrushes are laid, a pair of depending stiffener-spacers. In the caseof the upper partition, this for flooring the upper compartment 34, saidmain wall is marked 36, and its said stiffenerspacers are shown at 37;it being noted from Fig. 3 that these parts 37 are of inverted U shapeto provide passages for travel of the heated air stream through thelower compartment 35. The lower partition, this for flooring the saidlower compartment 35, comprises a main wall 38 and stiffener-spacers.39.

The bottoms of the said stiffener-spacers 39 rest slidingly on the uppersurface of the bottom wall 40a of the cabinet; and the bottoms of thestiffener-spacers 37 rest slidingly on the upper surface of the lowerpartitions main wall 36. Thus, for over about the middle third of itslength, the lower partitions main wall 38 is supported for being slidlaterally relative to the width of the interior of the cabinet 15, and,also, for about the middle third of its length, the upper partitionsmain wall 36 is supported for being laterally slid relative to the widthof the cabinet.

Auxiliary supports for the ends of said walls 36 and 38 are alsoprovided, whereby when said walls are fully inserted into the cabinettheir ends will be firmly upheld, yet whereby either of said walls maybe sidewisely slid into and out of the cabinet, in the latter case,particularly, to permit all dried brushes on either wall 36 or on wall38 or on both walls to be removed from the cabinet in the brief intervalof time required to swing down the door 23 and slide out a selected oneof said walls, or both said walls simultaneously.

Said auxiliary supports for the ends of the wall 38 are comprised of apair of upper and lower horizontal ribs 40 and 41, spaced apart byslightly more than the thickness of said wall 38, and with one pair ofsaid ribs directly opposite and alined with the other, and with each ofthe cabinets end walls 17 and 20 having one of said pairs of ribs formedon and projected inwardly therefrom. The auxiliary supports for the endsof the wall 36 also comprise pairs of ribs, horizontally arranged likethe ribs 40 and 41, and with the ribs of each pair spaced apart byslightly more than the thickness of said wall 36, and with these pairsof ribs also alined and partially carried by the inner sides of the endwalls 17 and 20 of the cabinet. Here, however, as will be noted from acomparison of Fig. 3 with Fig. 2, wherein all the upper ribs of pairs ofribs for engaging the ends of Wall 36 are designated 42 and all thelower ribs of said pairs are designated 43, there are in effect twopairs of said ribs on the cabinets end wall 17, this due to the opening16 in that wall, although there need only be one pair of these ribs 4243on the cabinets end wall 20.

With the cabinet 15 made of plastic as described, and with thepartitions carrying the main walls 36 and 38 also of plastic, and,furthermore, with the door 23 of plastic, as indicated in Fig. 3, thecabinet is of such light weight as to be easily lifted; and handle meansat the opposite ends of the cabinet are present to facilitate easy andconvenient portage of the device. Said handle means at one end of thecasing is constituted here by the air inlet tube 30, and at the otherend of the casing by the louvre member or hood 22a or by both suchhoods.

Referring next to the form of the invention shown in Figs. 4-6 here,there is shown a drying device according to the present invention, andone which, when constructed to the size indicated, also may be used forthe drying at one and the same time of a very large number ofhairbrushes. In referring to hairbrushes herein, the reference, ofcourse, is to a hairbrush of ordinary or common ly accepted size; thatis, the well-known size manufactured for and sold generally to beautyparlors, barber shops, etc.

It will be noted that in the drying device of Figs. 4-6, the cabinet,which is marked 15', is cylindrical. From what has hereinabove beensaid, and in view of said shape of the cabinet, the structuralcharacteristics of the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 4-6will be readily seen, if it be pointed out that in the last-named viewsthe parts respectively corresponding in function to parts shown in Figs.l-3 are given the same reference numerals but with primes added.

Spaced around the side wall of the cabinet 15', about 270 from theopening 16' for the admission into the cabinet of the stream of heatedair under pressure, are the louvre openings 21' and 22'; the louvremembers or hoods associated with these openings being seen at 21a and22a.

Spaced around said side wall of the cabinet, about from said opening16', is a large opening corresponding in function to the side wallopening 18 of Fig. 2. The said large opening in the cabinet is normallyclosed by a door 23 hingedly mounted as at 24. Said door, in any sectionthereof taken radially of the axis of cylindricity of the cabinet 15',with the door swung upward about its hinge mounting through 180, is ofhorizontally inverted L shape; and as will be noted said door is soshaped that when lowered the large opening at the side of the cabinet isfully closed, as also is the large segmental area of the top of thecabinet shown in Fig. 4 as located below the center line of the pintleof the hinge 24'.

For latching the door 23 closed, the two leaf spring latches 27 engagewith ribbed formations at appropriate places on the exterior of thecabinet 15 as shown in the case of one of said formations at 27a in Fig.5. Manual lifting of the door 23 is aided by presence of the louvremembers 21a and 22a, which may be used as pull-up handles for releasingthe leaf spring latches 27'. The door 23' is, of course, only to beopened while dried brushes are being removed from the cabinet or whilebrushes to be dried are being inserted into the cabinet.

The blower with heater unit is as a whole designated 29, and is arrangedas shown and suitably secured to the cabinet so that the heated airstream therefrom will be delivered in substantially a tangentialdirection into the interior of the cabinet through he opening 16'; theair inlet tube for the blower being marked 30 and the electric switchfor turning the blower on being marked 31. At 32 and 33 respectivelywill be noted the shaft and the vanes of the blower.

The cabinet 15 is divided into upper and lower annular compartments 34-and 35, so that there may be placed in each of these compartments aplurality of hairbrushes 44, with these brushes arranged radially of theaxis of cylindricity of the cabinet interior as shown in Fig. 4, andwith each brush somewhat lengthwisely downwardly inclined to have itsbristles at lower level than its handle as shown in Fig. 5.

Said compartments are established, and means for quickly and easilyplacing the hairbrushes in the cabinet in said compartments as justdescribed are afforded by providing a central upstanding drum 45, byrotatably mounting this drum by means of ball bearings 46 on a centralvertical stud 47 screwed into securement with the bottom wall of thecabinet as shown in Fig. 5 by fixing on said drum upper and lowerannular trays 48 and 49, each of these having an outer verticallyupstanding circular flange 48a or 49a, and by providing a largeplurality of recesses 50 along the length of the drum as indicated inFig. 5.

As will be noted, these recesses 50 in each compartment 34' and 35 arearranged in two circular series, one series above the other; so that ineach compartment every other hairbrush circumferentially of thecompartment may have the free end of its handle pocketed in a lowerrecess 50 and the intervening hairbrushes may each have the free end ofits handle pocketed in an upper recess 50. Then the converging of allthe said handle ends will not require too great spacing of thebristles-end of one hairbrush from the bristles-end of the nextadjoining one, and consequently the number of hairbrushes to be dried atone and the same time in each compartment may be kept at the maximum,with, at the same time, a suflicient such spacing provided for that: theupstanding bristles on the outer ends of the successive brushes in acircumferential series will react as the vanes of a rotor and so causerotation of the structure comprised of the drum 45 and the two trays 48and 49 in response to curvilinear sweep through the cabinet of thestream of heated air under pressure entering the cabinet through theopening 16. Not only will this heated air stream act quickly to dry thebristles of the brushes, but in doing so it will continually cause theentry of new brushes into the zone of its maximum drying eflicacy, withthe result that in a remarkably short length of time a very large numberof brushes previously placed soaking wet in the cabinet will all bedried and uniformly dried and with the drying of all of themsubstantially simultaneously completed.

It will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise thanas herein specifically illustrated or described, and that variouschanges in the details of construction and in the form and arrangementof parts of the illustrated embodiments may be made within the scope ofthe appended claim Without departing from the underlying idea of theinvention.

What is claimed is:

A drying device for hairbrushes and the like, comprising a cabinethaving a first opening, means for delivering heated air under pressureincorporating a heating unit and a blower, means for mounting thefirst-named means on the cabinet at said first opening in position todischarge a stream of heated air through said opening into the cabinetfor sweep therethrough, said cabinet having a second opening and a dooropenable at said second opening to permit insertion into and removalfrom the interior of the cabinet of a plurality of hairbrushes or thelike, said cabinet having a third opening to provide an escape means forsaid heated air stream and said third opening being so located as tocoact with the internal shape of the cabinet to insure that said airstream will be directed to sweep over the entire plurality ofhairbrushes in the cabinet, there being wall structures in the cabinetto subdivide the latter into a plurality of compartments each forhousing a plurality of hairbrushes to be dried, and means for mountingsaid wall structures in the cabinet while permitting movement of such astructure relative to the cabinet, the cabinet being horizontallyelongated, said first opening and said third opening being respectivelyat opposite ends of the cabinet, and there being a pair of handles forfacilitating portage of the device, said handles being respectively atthe opposite ends of the cabinet, a portion of said heated airdelivering means projecting beyond the cabinet and thereby adapted toconstitute one of said handles, there being a louvre member forproviding the other of said handles and the louvre opening associatedwith said member providing said third opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,539,778 Selph May 26, 1925 1,635,876 Alter et al July 12, 19272,096,838 Baker Oct. 26, 1937 2,414,502 Willcox Jan. 21, 1947 2,479,049Poncelet Aug. 16, 1949

